Public safety and other organizations use portable communications devices (for example, land mobile radios) to facilitate communication between their members. To streamline communication, organization members may be assigned to different communication groups (sometimes referred to as “talkgroups”). For example, to send a communication to a group of members, a member sends a single communication to an assigned talkgroup rather than sending a communication to individual members. An organization may have several talkgroups, and some talkgroups may include members spanning multiple organizations. Some talkgroups are pre-defined and programmed into the portable communications devices of the organization members. Other talkgroups, known as “ad hoc talkgroups,” are formed dynamically (for example, as part of an incident response). Individual members are automatically added to ad hoc talkgroups when they meet criteria for the ad hoc talkgroup. When a member no longer meets the criteria, the member is automatically dropped from the ad hoc talkgroup.
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The apparatus and method components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.